In only its fourth race, the all-new Mazda6, powered by a production-based SKYACTIV-D Diesel engine, scored a win in the recently held Rolex Grand-Am GX race at Road Atlanta in the USA.

Joel Miller and Andrew Carbonell drove the Mazda6 to the win, with team-mates Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long finishing third in another Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D.  It was a three-way battle for most of the race with a Porsche Cayman splitting the two Mazdas.

It was the first-ever win for a diesel-powered car in Grand-Am competition.  It also marked the first win for the all-new Mazda6 in any race series.

“The win and third placing by the all-new Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D 2.2 litre diesel proves the point that the best street cars make the best race cars,” says Mazda New Zealand managing director Andrew Clearwater.

“With more than half of the components in the race engine being shared with the street engine, this is proof of the quality, durability, reliability and performance of the all-new Mazda6.” He says.

Joel Miller, co-driver, was full of praise for the winning Mazda. "The new Mazda6 ran perfectly. The torque of the SKYACTIV-D pulled up the elevation changes around Road Atlanta circuit strongly and the Mazda6 handled beautifully.  During the course of the race we attacked when needed and paced ourselves when required.  The event had only one caution during the two-hour and 45 minutes race, thus there was hardly any time to relax.”